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Aug 27, 2025
Best of A Numbers Game | August 27, 2025
Best of A Numbers Game | August 27, 2025
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44:45
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Transcript
0:01
The numbers tell the story, they always do. It's one of those idiots who believe in analytics. This is a Numbers Game with Gil Alexander on VSiN. Good Wednesday morning to you.
0:10
It's the Numbers Game at VSiN, the sports betting network, VSiN.com, Game Plus, iHeartRadio, YouTube TV, and of course, Sirius XM channel 158. It's Gil Alexander. It's Kelly Finland to my left writing notes. Sup?
0:22
What are you writing? Yeah, I rarely, I rarely write with a pen. Yeah. But I wanted to make a couple things just to not forget this segment. What do you typically write with? You just mean you don't write.
0:28
I usually just type it up on the computer. Oh, okay. I was gonna say. Yeah, the loud clickety-clack of Kelly's computer. Well, we wanna know. What are you writing there?
0:34
Well, Adam Thielen, I believe is how you pronounce it, has, uh, just got traded a little while ago. Back, back to the, uh, Vikings? Back to the Vikings. Oh. Adam Thielen goes, and it is for...
0:45
Let me pull up the details here. Everybody, let's watch the betting lines not move together. Yeah, [laughs] yeah, exactly. I, I think it's interesting, though, for both sides.
0:52
This was what we were talking about last week, uh, Matt Brown and I.
0:55
Like, I don't really, I don't know if I really believed it was gonna happen, because why are you taking away pieces from Bryce Young that can help him develop? And Thielen's actually- Thielen would help him...
1:05
been pretty good. Yeah. So little weird. Uh, Vikings get Thielen, a conditional seventh round pick and a fifth round pick. The Panthers get a fifth and a fourth.
1:14
So if you're just looking from draft capital, that, that's a pretty good return for the Panthers. I'm gonna, I'm gonna suggest that we not have a lesser awesome opening than that one- [laughs] Okay...
1:26
for the next four months. Okay. All right. There we go. Once February happens- Wow... all bets are off. All right. Yeah. Breaking news. [laughs] That's right.
1:33
Uh, on the show today, uh, Jensen Lewis from By The Books, who was just on air with Dave Ross. That's right. Captain America. By the way, big morning for Jensen and Dave.
1:41
Jensen's gonna be on the show here momentarily, talk baseball with us. But Dave Ross, who gets more excited for a Ryder Cup announcement than Captain America Dave Ross? Oh, I, I, I did this yesterday. Yeah?
1:51
I called him out of the pen. Yeah. We're doing, we're doing an emergency r- uh, Long Shots pod, Ryder Cup at 10:00 AM. As soon as we get off the air- Wow... we flip it right on, recording Long Shots.
2:00
We'll talk about Ryder Cup. That announcement will be coming down during the show, and I had to invite Dave Ross. Have to. Dave Ross should be paid by the Ryder Cup to, uh, promote it all year long. He should be.
2:09
Uh, Jensen will be on with us momentarily to talk baseball. Greg Peterson, all of his baseball plays today, uh, on a full day of Major League Baseball slate, as is the case each and every Wednesday.
2:19
And by the way, if you go to the, uh, VSi- if you're a VSiN.com, excuse me, a VSiN Pro subscriber and you go to, uh, vsin.com/picks for Pro subscribers, guess who's atop the experts board right now? Greg Peterson. Oops.
2:32
Yeah. Unseeded Jensen. So we go back-to-back Jensen and Greg right here, uh, to start the show. And then, uh, Pete Futak, college football a little later.
2:39
JVT will be on the show a little later, talk college football and pro perhaps with us, and Michael Monosono a little later on, Circa Booby Prize winner, giving us some college football and an NFL season win total.
2:49
That's deeper down the show, but we got, uh, we got a win total Wednesdays. Yeah. You know what that means today, uh, Kelly? That means a couple things. One, it means baseball.
2:59
We're gonna talk about teams to get to 80 wins, teams to get to 90 wins.
3:04
One of these, uh, one of these markets th- [laughs] that I think more consistently than any other has been the eh, eh, like are there really bets here?
3:12
'Cause the books really, ah, they do a number on bettors in these markets, but we'll see if we can find anything. And then on the, uh, on the NFL side of things,
3:21
you and me, our favorite alt season win totals of the year. Alt. Yes, alternate, not straight up. I don't know how many you've actually bet. I, I don't, I don't think I've bet any of the ones I've written down yet.
3:34
There is one or two that I am considering, but, uh, it was fun putting together a list, man, 'cause there are some teams when, when, when you're high or low on a team, I, I ended up put- writing down way more than I thought I was going with.
3:44
It, it really does speak to, you and I were just mentioning this before we got on air, certain divisions for me, and we do, and by the way, we're gonna talk NFC, uh, South today. We're gonna talk AFC North.
3:55
We're gonna do it, again, through the prism of Cleve TA's n- numbers, which I think are great.
3:59
Um, but what it really comes down to is certain divisions make me wanna bet tons of things, and certain divisions don't make me wanna bet anything. Yeah. I don't know if that, if, if that works for you the same way.
4:09
I, I, um, I, I w- want to say that's kind of a c- I feel like a common feeling around, uh, bettors this summer, but I don't know. Hmm. Maybe it's ju- maybe it's just us.
4:17
I, I mean, I look at a division like the NFC North and the NFC West, and it's just like [laughs] t- I can't make a division bet here.
4:24
Like, I think there's multiple teams in the running that I gotta see a little bit of first. Yeah. Um, and then I, we g- uh, to answer your question, there's a bunch of NFL bets I have to make.
4:33
This is where the US Open, while I love the fact, again, that the tennis calendar very kindly moves out of the way once the NFL- Hmm... season begins, um, the Slams are over for the year anyway.
4:43
There's still tennis, but, but by and large, it moves out of the way.
4:46
Betting so much US Open tennis does take my mind off of betting all these football things, and then it's sort of like, "Oh my God, I gotta sign up for Survivor. I gotta bet all these, bet all these other things."
4:55
Um- I did it yesterday, man. It's, uh... Look, it's so popular, even on a Tuesday. I had a little bit of a wait. Build, build your time in, man. Really? Oh, yeah, yeah. They got the whole...
5:06
I think they were doing this last year, too. You signed up for the contest? Yeah, signed up for the contest. Oh, I'm doing it tomorrow. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So just, I'm telling you, build a- Wow...
5:11
give yourself a little bit of time. Uh, by the way, what are we looking at? O- over 10,000 entries right now in Survivor, and 22 in Grandissimo. 22. What was my number, 30 and a half? I don't think we're gonna get there.
5:25
23, I'm told. Thanks, thanks, Danny. [laughs] Danny. I'm really gonna get those eyes checked. Boy, Danny, I'm glad there's a producer on set, for God's sakes. I, I was just sq- I was just squinting real hard at that.
5:33
I was like, "Is that a two or a three?" [laughs] It's a three. 23. One was added yesterday. Speaking of the US Open, yesterday, uh, had four plays, two and two, but guess which two hit? The big doggies.
5:45
Big dogs hit yesterday. Uh, Tristan Schoolkate, the Aussie, at plus 206, got it done in five sets against Lorenzo Sonego. Uh, Schoolkate won the first two sets.
5:55
He dropped the next two sort of miserably, and then he was down a break in the fifth, broke back, and wins it.
6:03
7-5, so the +206 cashes for us, as does the +230 on Laura Siegemund, the German who, uh, beat Diana Schneider, who came off a, a win in the tournament in Monterey.
6:14
She had travel issues too, but Siegemund is l- I was mentioning yesterday, not is she awkward, she's the most annoying player to play against. She p- she plays out the serve clock to the end every time. Oh, gosh.
6:24
And even, like, messes with it, daring the ump to call something sort. And so you could tell Schneider was not happy after that. But we hit that at +230. We lose badly on the, the short shots yesterday.
6:37
Elena, n- n- Elena Vesnina was +142, so it wasn't, it wasn't that bad of a, a play. But the, uh, Martin, uh, Mart- Martine Vucovic lost miserably. That was the first play of the day yesterday.
6:50
So two and two, but the two dogs hit nicely. Today, four more plays. Uh, not quite as sexy. Three on the men's side, one on the ladies' side. I don't mean that, I just mean the numbers.
7:02
Uh, on the ladies' side, Taylor Townsend, Kelly, against the Hamburger, Jelena Ostapenko. Taylor Townsend, who is a elite doubles player, has really stepped up her singles game.
7:14
Um, for subscribers, one on her against Danielle freaking Collins a few weeks back when freaking Collins was screaming on the court. "What is happening to me?"
7:23
[laughs] Uh, Townsend +106 against Ostapenko today on the ladies' side. Man, Townsend almost 30. That makes me feel old. Townsend? Oh, yeah. Yeah. She's been around forever. Yeah. Yeah, at this point, yeah.
7:34
Um, she does well. You know, she, this has always been a tournament she steps up for, but her singles game is really at the best it's ever been right now. So Townsend +106. Then on the men's side, three plays.
7:44
Francisco Cerundolo is the big dog of the day, +174 against the Englishman Cameron Norrie. Cam Norrie, or as Drew used to call him, Scam Norrie. Uh, Francisco Cerundolo, Argentine, Argentine.
7:56
Uh, known more for his clay play, but actually really good, uh, numbers-wise on hard courts as well. Sort of sneaky that way. +174 on Cerundolo versus Norrie.
8:06
Then, uh, you don't usually see me play favorites of this size. No, you do not. Yeah, this is a, this is a departure for me, but the numbers lead where the numbers lead, Kelly. Yeah. Adrian Mannarino, Frenchman.
8:18
That's right, he's a Frenchman with that last name. -181 versus the American Jordan Thompson, who is a hard-courter.
8:23
Uh, not as good as he once was, and Mannarino has found his game again after sort of being a hard court specialist for many years and then falling off the face, and he's back. -181 on Mannarino versus Thompson.
8:36
And then the final one, Benjamin Bonzi versus Marcos, uh, Marcos Giron, the American. Marcos Giron played a five-setter.
8:43
So did Bonzi famously against Medvedev the other night, where Medvedev destroyed rackets at the end of that one. Bonzi's -105. I just think he's the better player, and the numbers dictate that as well.
8:53
So the men's side, Cerundolo +174 versus Norrie. Mannarino, -181 against Thompson. Bonzi, -105 against Giron. And on the ladies' side, Taylor Townsend, let's go, +106 against Ostapenko.
9:06
Now, clearly everybody just calls him the Bonzi scheme, right? Mm-hmm. Like, that's- I think that's just you, but hey. Just me? Yeah. Well, I'm starting it then. Maybe you should. Starting it in TM.
9:14
Uh, and then Jordan Thompson- Do you think, do you think trademarks are granted if you just go TM? [laughs] I think, yes, I think so. In the patent office. They're like, "Skillies."
9:21
It's like, believe, believe that's how it works. Yeah. It's like Michael Scott declaring bankruptcy. [laughs] "I declare bankruptcy." Uh, is Jordan Thompson allowed to play with shoes today? What was the shoes thing?
9:29
Well, is he, does he not get to wear shoes or something? That's why you're laying a -181? Oh. It is. That's a big price for you to lay, yeah.
9:35
It's, I, what was the, what's the biggest number you've ever seen me play on a match? Probably- Nah, I do, no, I'm not, I'm not gonna go crazy 'cause I do feel like every seven months- So often...
9:42
you'll have a -200 or something like that. No, I, I don't think I've ever done that. Oh, no? Okay. Yeah, yeah. I don't think I've ever done that.
9:48
I feel like I've seen h- once Even though if the numbers said to do it, I would do it. Yeah. It's not, I'm not, I'm not, uh, discriminatory on this stuff. Cerundolo, Mannarino, Bonzi on the men's.
9:56
Townsend on the ladies' side. Which has, and it's been a great tournament, uh, thus far, as it always is in New York City.
10:02
And the biggest upset so far, Maddie Keys gone on the ladies' side and Ev- and Elina Svitolina on the ladies' side gone.
10:07
Maddie Keys, who, uh, was a finalist at this tournament in 2018 and won her first slam this year at the Australian Open, said she was nervous before her first round match. Hmm. It was like, New York crowd expectations.
10:18
I, I, I was just gonna ask you if it was that. Like, I, dude, the US Open's just different. Like, it's- Oh. I mean, it's, I think especially if you're an American, right?
10:25
Like, it is New York City at night for a lot of these matches. Crowd is h- hopping and you know that you're like, I mean, the, the, I'm sure the expectations these American tennis players- Yeah...
10:37
put on themselves- Uh-oh... is even more than the [laughs] outside American fan base, but- I went to the one day of qualies last week, uh, for free. It's free for everybody, qual- qualies.
10:47
So ended up watching practice, but the only time I've ever attended an actual US Open match, I've probably told this story before. There is an un- what is that, that documentary series, Untold or something like that?
10:58
Hmm. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, but anyway, they do one on- I believe that is-...
11:00
the American, just to your point, American Mardy Fish, and I'm watching this documentary, and Mardy Fish is th- they're sh- having a breakdown- Yeah... in a US Open match against Gilles Simon.
11:08
That's the one night I was there. I was there for that match.
11:11
Had no idea what was happening in front of me at the time, but he was having a complete mental breakdown that completely changed the trajectory of his career from, you know, pressure that had been built up, but then climaxed, if you will, at the US Open.
11:25
Yeah. He's a guy I got to, I got to interview a few times, actually, down south. Really? Yeah. Great, great dude, great conversations. Yeah. Ama- amazing golfer. Just amazing athlete in general. Amazing golfer. Yeah.
11:34
Yeah. Just give these guys- Hard- Just give you guys a stick and a ball and they're amazing. Mm-hmm. It's incredible. Uh, we'll come back. Jensen Lewis on the other side. Let's talk some Major League Baseball with him.
11:43
Greg Peterson as well this hour, and a whole bunch of football. It's a Numbers Game at VSiN, the sports betting network. [upbeat music] A Numbers Game on VSiN, the sports betting network.
12:01
Back on a Numbers Game live from Circa Resort and Casino. Gil Alexander, Kelly Bidlin. We get tweets that beat the book. Colin Murphy, "I also thought of the Bonzi scheme with Benjamin Bonzi.
12:12
Hopefully he performs well at Indian Wells so that we can refer to him as Bonzi Wells." [laughs] Ah. See what you did there? There we go. There we go. Best listeners in the game. Rob Graham, "Good morning, Gil and Kelly.
12:23
It's your Saskatchewan friend here. I was just wondering what your tennis picks are for today." Yeah, we should probably revisit those. Yeah. Since none have started.
12:29
One on the lady side, Taylor Townsend up against Jelena Ostapenko. She is short plus money, is Taylor Townsend. And then on the men's side, one big favorite, Adrian Mannarino, uh, -181. Uh, that's one of the plays.
12:44
Francisco Cerundolo, +173, is a big dog against Cam Norrie. And then the, uh, final pick, I'm just doing this off the, uh, off the top of my dome here, Kelly Bidlin.
12:53
The final play is also on the men's side, and that one would be, uh, that one would be Benjamin Bonzi. Francisco? Benjamin Bonzi. Of course, the aforementioned Bonzi at -105 versus Marcus Giron.
13:04
So Cerundolo, Mannarino, and Bonzi on the men's side, Townsend on the ladies' side. Uh, this is from, one more tweet here.
13:12
This is from, uh, JasonH11, "Is anyone at Circa properly trained to handle Kelly when he has an aneurysm? Breathe, Kelly, breathe." You okay? Yeah. Tell people why you're upset.
13:23
Keegan, Ke- Keegan pulled the ultimate good guy move, left himself off the team. All this- He's just gonna be the captain... all this because he invited you to a keg party, so that's why you love him so much.
13:32
It's not, that's not true. It's not true. Just a, just a great guy. Yeah. Great player. No. Great American. Wyatt told me it's true. [laughs] Um- Uh, yeah, he left himself off, though. Okay.
13:42
Everybody enjoyed Patrick Cantlay lining up for putts for 72 minutes. By the way, I'd have lost money betting on that, 'cause I thought he would absolutely pick himself. Burns makes it.
13:50
That was one we were interested in betting. He had those odds up. Let's talk some college football.
13:55
Ladies and gentlemen, from the heartland with the, uh, Guy Fieri poster back behind him once again, it's the emperor of CollegeFootballNews.com. It's Pete Fewnick, courtesy of Progressive Guest Line.
14:05
How you doing, Peter? I've been to a Ryder Cup, and I got to admit, I was, one, I didn't see anything, and I basically missed, like, this awesome tournament because you can't really see what's happening on the fly.
14:16
And two, there's NFL stuff going on. Like, how, like, what percentage of your effort is going, your mental effort's gonna be on Ryder Cup compared to the NFL Sunday? Great question. Oh, i- it will be, it will be on a TV.
14:28
I- that's right. I t- I, I told Gil I care more about what happens right now than the actual Ryder Cup. We were talking about it on the, on the US Open Tennis Podcast.
14:35
When the men's final is on, how many people are actually- Yeah... watching the men's final versus- It's the first Sunday. I am. Yeah. I'm the one. [laughs] It's awesome. It's still good.
14:41
But, uh, but see, that's the problem. The, the men's final is Lendl and McEnroe right after Giants and, uh, you know, Cowboys, and I'm putting off doing homework. Yeah.
14:51
And Pat Summerall's talking to me while the US Open's happening. I'm realizing, oh yeah, I have not done any homework this weekend. After the US Open, murder, she wrote. All right. Oh, man. Let's get to college football.
15:02
It's still awesome. Pete, Pete, uh, Kelly wants to wedge in the ACC here. Yeah? That's what you wanna do? Go on. We can do another conference. Well, well, we'll do big games w- w- with Pete first this week.
15:10
We'll do, we'll do- Yeah... we'll get to the games here. Okay. ACC, though, Clemson +105 to win conference, the U +380, Louisville and SMU the only other teams in single digits. Who you got, ACC?
15:21
I, uh, the problem is that m- uh, once again, we don't have the big boys playing each other, so Miami and Clemson do not play. Uh, i- if, the better bet overall value would be Miami. Clemson's obviously amazing.
15:32
They're really good. Uh, they have everything there to, to win this thing. I will throw in the, as, as I always say when we do these sorts of things, to win, you can't win unless you get there. So who could get there?
15:43
Who's, like, at a really long shot if you're gonna go crazy at this? Mr. Belichick's Tar Heels- Oh, don't say that... don't really play anybody. Look, here. Oh. So here's their, they get Clemson at home- No...
15:55
at Cal, Virginia, at Syracuse, Stanford, at Wake Forest, Duke. No, no SMU, no Miami, no Louisville, no Georgia Tech, no Florida State, if they're better. So if they pull, they get a week off before dealing with Clemson.
16:11
If they pull off the win against Clemson, we're gonna be talking about them mid-November as, "Wait a minute, these are, like, your 9-1 North Carolina Tar Heels." They're not that great. Stop it.
16:22
But it, it, so the problem is they might actually get there. I don't think they can win it if they get to play Clemson or, uh, Miami again, but at least they get in the picture. And don't count out Florida State yet.
16:33
They might pivot back in. So value-wise, it's not a horrible, horrible, uh, throwout there. I literally was gonna say I can't wait to see the, uh, the crap show that North Carolina is.
16:44
But you went the complete opposite direction.
16:46
[laughs] I, it, it really is must-see TV for me, and I'm sure for everybody, uh, the, at least the first few weeks of the season, 'cause I can't wait to see, um, how this works out for Belichick.
16:57
I don't have the problem with him like everyone else does. Like, he's not a bad guy. Oh, I'm not saying he's a bad guy. I mean, he's our coach out there. I'm just saying the transition, uh- Yeah...
17:05
Belichick/Lombardi, the transition from pro football to the college game particularly- You don't go from movies to TV...
17:12
yeah, particularly in the, in the days of NIL, which some people would say, "Oh, free agency, they should be familiar with that." Um, it'll just be fascinating to watch, let's put it that way. Yeah.
17:20
Uh, starting out with the game against TCU on September the 1st. What about the big game- Which they could lose and be just fine in that ACC race. Yeah. Which they probably will lose, by the way. That's right.
17:28
Uh, let's go to the big games this weekend, of course, uh, beginning with Texas and Ohio State Saturday morning, really where the true college football season begins. And what a slate on Saturday beginning with that one.
17:39
Who you got? Do we actually have that game on TV yet if we, for you tube TV people? Has that been, like, hammered away with the Fox deal? Anyway, uh- Oh... I like Ohio State.
17:51
I mean, just, uh, there's a little bit part of this where Ohio State, I, you know, this is a team that always does really well in the no one believes in us thing.
17:59
It gaks when it's, it, you know, has to against Michigan and teams like that. But when it gets, when it gets that bur in its bun, it, it, it seems to come up and play at another level.
18:08
And even though they're favored and even though Texas is, you know, the par, Texas is number one, Ohio State's at home. Uh, but look, the, either way, w- The, this, this matchup matters.
18:20
These teams have played four other times, three of them, the three other times the team that won ended up playing for the national championship. The other time, Texas was a monster at the very end.
18:29
Uh, so this is as big as it gets. And the crazy part about this is looking at the he- ahead of the schedules, if Texas loses this, they've got Georgia at Georgia.
18:38
If they drop a game against like an Oklahoma or somebody, they're not a shoo-in for the college football playoff. Ohio State's schedule's a little easier. But, uh, I think the defense rises up and rocks for Ohio State.
18:48
Again, if you're really lo- this, this is kind of a pick 'em 50/50 game, uh, so I'm not that hot on it, but Ohio State.
18:54
By the way, to answer your question about YouTube TV and Fox, the deal has not been done yet, but the FCC chairman has weighed in and he s- and he told Google, who owns YouTube TV, he said, "Get it done."
19:05
And he's right, by the way. Yeah, at the last second it'll get done and they're gonna raise us another 10 bucks per thing, but I digress. Dude.
19:10
Can you imagine if they didn't get that, how many people would, would lose their minds? They would ne- Don't you remember they did this- Yeah...
19:15
with, uh, college football and ESPN like three or two or three years ago too. It's wild. It's kind of a- This happens like every year... kind of a routine. It's a routine at this point. It's amazing. All right.
19:22
What did you land on this week? All the favorites.
19:27
I mean, it, you have to remember, I know you ha- you hate me when we ha- when I k- talk like this, but last year, again, I'll keep throwing this out there even though Hawaii did beat Stanford in a total gak by the Cardinal.
19:38
But last year, Power Five versus Group of Five. Power F- Power Four, I should say. Power Four and Notre Dame versus Group of Five went 83 and 7 straight up against the c- the Group of Five programs.
19:50
And this year you've got a bigger talent disparity than ever. The lines all seem a little bit off.
19:56
If you like the favorite from a Power Four s- uh, school, just go with it and, you know, e- especially if you're gonna be that crazy and be that person when it comes to the FCS games, just assume that the, the Power Four teams are just gonna absolutely power drill these teams.
20:10
Unless it's something like a 45-point spread, then just stay away from that. But for the most part, uh, I really am liking, uh, a lot of these other g- kind of periphery games.
20:21
Um, really sort of exci- I, I'm liking Miami against Notre Dame, if we're gonna go really big game here, 'cause the quarterback situation.
20:29
Until I know a CJ Carr is gonna be good, I just kinda keep envisioning Carson Beck coming up big and co- putting up a big performance against the Irish.
20:38
Um, th- the, the storyline would be, look, Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, all these schools that are going with their in-house guy, you'd better be right because you coulda had Carson Beck.
20:51
And he was for a while there the presumptive number one overall pick until he had a rough year last year and had his own sort of, uh, reality show stuff happening down there in Miami a little bit.
20:59
But he is a big-time talent. Miami is that good. It's gonna be super hot and stuffy down there. I do like the, uh, the Hurricanes to get by the Irish. LSU-Clemson, any thoughts on that game?
21:12
I'm not gonna give the, the go with the Tigers line. I, I liked LSU, but, like, it, Clemson is g- Clemson's more experienced. LSU has a few too many moving parts they still have to put together.
21:25
I think this is a true go with the home field team. I li- I would've liked them if they were in the other Death Valley in, uh, in, uh, Baton Rouge.
21:33
In Clemson, you do have a, the, they've got the running game, they've got the lines. I think that, uh, LSU's gonna run all day long on this Clemson defensive front.
21:42
But this is just enough of an experienced team all the way across the board for Clemson. Klubnick and Nussmeier go with Cl- uh, stupidly go with Clemson. But I love the over.
21:52
I think this is gonna be an absolute shootout. This is not gonna be a defensive battle. All right, last 30 seconds, Pete. Uh, it's your last chance to weigh in pre-flop on the Heisman. Who is your play?
22:03
I, okay, because every, we don't know... The problem is all, again, really quick, all these top teams have new quarterbacks, so we don't know if a CJ Carr goes crazy or Julian Sayin goes off.
22:12
It's really gonna be dependent on this first weekend. If Arch Manning goes anything and he's good and Texas wins, it's his Heisman to take. It just, I know it's boring, uh, but he is the presumptive favorite.
22:25
Everyone's gonna love him. If he rocks and Texas wins, it's gonna be his. Look at that little brief history, uh, last five years. Travis Hunter, 50 to 1 pre-flop last year. Still not buying the Travis Hunter one.
22:36
[laughs] And Devonte Smith 100 to 1 the pandemic year. Yeah. Pre-flop 20, uh, 2020. Thank you so much, Pete. Appreciate it. Later, guys. Pete Fiutak, F-I-U-T-A-K on Twitter. AFC North next.
22:52
A Numbers Game on VSiN, the sports betting network. Back on the Numbers Game live from Circa Resort Casino, downtown Las Vegas, Gil Alexander, Kelly Midland.
23:01
And with us in studio, co-host of Money Moves, which he does with Stormy Bonnefontone each and every weekday, uh, starts an hour after we're done. So let me do the, uh, the quick math on that.
23:12
That would be, uh, 2:00 PM p- uh, 2:00 PM Eastern. Well done. 11:00 AM Pacific. Yeah. Nailed it. I was gonna say 11:00 Central. It is the dead zone, though.
23:22
Not, like, for our audience, but in that I think so many of us as sports fans understand the easy conversions of Eastern Time when we're talking about in NFL blocks, right? You know? Uh, we have the 10 to 1.
23:32
We have- Yes... the one to four, we have the five to eight. 11 to two gets me every time. [laughs] Can't do it. Can't do it. It's, it's- It is a mental block.
23:40
The, uh, the other thing is when you're scheduling guests who come from the different time zones, the one that always gets me is we have Dr. Bob is in the Mountain Time Zone. Oh, I know.
23:49
So e- the one hour for one r- for whatever reason, I get the three and I get the two, but when it comes to one, I'm like, "Wait, is he the one hour?" Yep. I always mess that up for some reason.
23:57
It's our, our buddy Zach Cohen- Yeah... who is, uh, in that area, so, you know, Arizona has that stupid thing where they do- Oh... don't, they don't do daylight savings time. Whoa, whoa, stupid genius.
24:04
Um, a- it, conform. A- and so, like- Conform... there's this thing that, yeah, it's like an hour behind, like what are we doing? What time is it?
24:10
So luckily Zach is nice enough to always just work on Pacific time every week. Yes. Before I ask JVT some questions, can I just point out the elephant in the room? Yeah, you're, you're gonna have to. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
24:18
K- Kelly is, we were trying a new microphone setup here, and Kelly is, is, uh, sort of- It's always awkward...
24:22
sort of Janet Jackson Ple- pleasure principle, Bobby Brown, My Prerogative kind of thing I've gotten a lot of comparisons to, uh, Janet Jackson before. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Right. Hey, we, we [laughs]
24:33
Hey, we've always had this problem though. The three on the desk is clunky with microphones, so I decided to make it easy. By the way, messed up Janet Jackson's remote control.
24:40
You, you, you and JVT can just easily look at each other without me having to do the, like- Yeah... the thing at the bar.
24:44
Oh, yeah The, you know, like, you're the middle guy at the bar, you can't figure out- Well, I also hate 'cause I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not small.
24:50
And so, like, when I have Stormy, who's not exactly, like, small either, but still, it's like Stormy- I'm sm- what?... me in the middle, and then, like, whoever else joins us on set, like I, I- Ri- exactly...
25:00
can't do that Yeah... I don't know what I'm supposed to do. It's tough. Now I'm just hanging back. Everybody can see each other just fine.
25:04
This is, this is our on-air request for let's get some, like, real mic arms in here and maybe a cough button or two, but that's just me. Uh, give me the Jonathan Von Tobel NFL...
25:13
I think I probably asked you this at some point this summer, but I wanna ask you before the season starts again. The most outlying JVT opinion based on what you've heard incoming consensus-wise. I mean,
25:26
I, I am met with, I don't know if this is outlier, but I am met with some shock when I express that I don't like the Texans this year. Ooh, he loves the Texans. Um, okay. Yeah. It's like, the, so I think that's that.
25:35
Like, even in our draft, uh, one of my alternate win total unders was Texans under eight and a half. Uh, and I think we're starting to get in that direction.
25:42
I think their offensive line got worse, and it was very bad last year. One of the top offensive lines, or bottom if you wanna look at it from that perspective, in terms of pressures allowed. C.J.
25:50
Stroud was getting murdered back there.
25:52
Uh, when you look at their running back position, the way it breaks down right now, your, looks like, you know, rookie, um, Woody, uh, can't remember his last name, but the USC rookie running back is gonna be there, starting running back for them week one potentially.
26:02
Because Nick Chubb I don't think is the same guy. We've talked to people in Cleveland on Money Moves that have said- Yep. Yeah... like, "John, like, I don't know, man. Like, we saw him out there." Mm-hmm.
26:08
"It doesn't really look like the same dude. We know what's going on with Joe Mixon."
26:11
So if they have shoddy offensive line protection and a running game that is hit or miss and however that's going to look, I just think there's a reality where their defense is maybe just as good as it was last year, but their offense might be really middle of the pack to below average.
26:24
And in a division where I think you can throw any one of these teams in a hat, yes, that includes the Colts, and pull one out and go, "Hey, this is your division champ," would you be astonished that any one of these four won the AFC South?
26:34
I include Tennessee in that too. We have seen each of the last two years a rookie quarterback take a team that was floating around four or five wins to a division title, C.J. Stroud among them.
26:43
So I think there's a lot of parity in this division. Now, where it ultimately lands me is I think the Jags are the team in the division. I have bet them to win the, uh, the AFC South.
26:51
I have bet a one-two exacta Jags Colts, uh, for the AFC South as well. But I, I'm, I'm, it all stems from being anti-Houston this year. I don't think that they're going to be a team that the market expects them to be.
27:02
And to answer your question, no, I would not be astonished, and I, I'm sure there's a big percentage of the audience listening who are like, "What do you mean you wouldn't be astonished?
27:09
Tennessee's terrible, and, and, uh, you know, that, that can't possibly happen." But that would... If, if we are astonished, then it means we're way too confident about all our opinions- Yeah... on all these teams.
27:21
And so I, you can't be astonished, in a, in a division like that anyway. And by the way, we just did the, uh, AFC North, where we were talking about, uh, can you name the one, two, three, four?
27:29
Is it Baltimore, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, uh, and Cleveland? I don't think I can, 'cause you and I, and you were, you're simpatico with me on this, you're higher on Pittsburgh than most as well.
27:38
I, and I think I'm more of like, you know, I get it. I, I, I- Yeah... came into the off-season going, "[scoffs] Pittsburgh," like- Right... winning seasons, all this nonsense.
27:46
But the more you look at what they've invested in their defensive backfield, I, I've, it's funny, I, I get, I get very, I guess angry is the right term.
27:54
When we start making disingenuous arguments, when I say like we, I find myself being like, "Well, guys, what about this?" Like, I don't think we're... To the point where then I become an ardent defender of somebody.
28:02
Right. And so I've- Right. [laughs]... become that way with Aaron- That's right... right? So I've become that way- Yeah...
28:05
with Aaron Rodgers, which is, uh, y- the, he was kind of blamed for everything last year, when when you look at him statistically across the board, he was just an average quarterback. Average.
28:14
And in some categories, slightly above average. In other words, he wasn't really that bad.
28:18
And so if you just get average quarterback play for a Pittsburgh team that has eked out winning seasons, getting to the playoffs, then I think there's a reality where they find themselves higher in the standings than I think most expect them to.
28:30
Having said that, I was making this argument the other day after watching Cincinnati and still feeling what I feel about Pittsburgh, shouldn't the argument be that maybe the Ravens should be over $2 to win this division?
28:40
I, I think that they are clearly the best team in the NFL from a power rating standpoint. They're a very complete roster. The teams in their division have flaws. We don't need to discuss the ones with the Browns.
28:51
The Steelers do have a very old quarterback. The Bengals, we know exactly what's going on with them.
28:55
Shouldn't this be a team that maybe is rated higher to win this division and that what we think about the AFC North in the past is what is making this price so cheap for Baltimore?
29:04
It's, it's a great point, and I find myself nodding to all that. You're right. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Now, if I was a Steelers fan, I'd be a little concerned about Aaron Rodgers coming to town.
29:13
I think Aaron Rodgers' play last year was fine at times, but I mean, geez, how, how, how far did he set back that Jets team?
29:19
I, I, you're talking about, uh, young players that they were all excited about, coach, uh, coaching the- Yeah... a coach that got fired because of the guy. The guy came in and ran the entire, entire team.
29:29
It was just weird. It was- Say it, say, say one small step for man, one giant step for mankind. See, right now? [laughs] That's what it sounds like. Well, yeah. Oh, is that, that sound good?
29:37
Well, no, it sounds like you're from, you're on the moon right now. I, I will say- Yeah. Yeah... can I, I, to, to build off of that, like, to go back to your original question of outlier- Yes...
29:44
uh, opinions, I do think the Jets aren't as bad as we think they're going to be. I do find it interesting that narratively a year ago this was a nine-and-a-half win total playoff team- Sure...
29:53
maybe competing for an AFC, and now Aaron Rodgers is gone, and it's a bunch of bums that are going to be a, the laughing stock of the NFL.
30:01
The reality is they still have very good defensive pieces that I think Aaron Glenn can get the most out of. They have Garrett Wilson. They've got good skill position talent. Not great, but good.
30:11
If you get, again, just a baseline of quarterback play that's s- floating around average, I think the talent enough is there. In fact, they were one of my alternate win totals over in the draft.
30:19
I think that there's something there with this Jets team that we're maybe underselling. This also ties into my disdain for the Dolphins in the big picture.
30:25
I think that there's a very strong chance that this Dolphins team falls apart. McDaniel's is out, and we're looking at them much lower and closer to a first overall pick than I think many expected this year.
30:34
If it does go bad, he is definitely, McDaniel's definitely a first coach-fired candidate. Yeah. Yeah, we were talking about that- If it, if it's like even money, right?... with D6 over the weekend. Yeah.
30:41
And we were having some drinks after the, the panel here. Yeah. Yeah, we were talking about that. Yeah. Uh, he should be. Look, he's not...
30:46
I, [laughs] I sent it to you, Andrew, the picture of him after the preseason game where he's got like the rolled up- Yeah [laughs]... sweatpants and he's in this hoodie. The pre-pants. Yeah. And I just put leader of men.
30:53
[laughs] Like say that he- Well, but you know what? I've said this before, uh, al- also on a Numbers Game, but I think on the podcast as well, where I do think that the nerdiness thing, the quirkiness- Yeah...
31:02
if you will, is great when things are going well. Yeah. But when they go bad, people love to jump on that, right? It's, it's a very quick negative turn. I mean, think about what we know about the Dolphins too. Yeah.
31:12
I- in his, in his past and in his tenure, they are front runners when it comes to beating up on bad teams. Yeah. And then when they play the good teams- Yep... it's like they're completely lost.
31:20
And he deserves criticism for being an offensive mind. I will always invoke this. We don't give Matt LaFleur enough credit for how good he is in comparison with McDaniel- Agreed...
31:29
and where he is thought of as an offensive genius. Yes. Whenever, when... LaFleur made Malik Willis look great. 3-0 with Malik Willis. Yes, correct. And then you get McDaniel, any time Tua goes down- Ugh...
31:39
it is a sheer drop-off- That is right... of offensive play, and he looks like he has no idea how to handle the backup quarterback position.
31:45
Oh, there was that, that Knight game where you're s- I was screaming at the TV- Yep... like, "Bro," like, "why? You have to adjust." Who was the quarterback that game? I think it was, was it Huntley?
31:53
Is that the Monday night game? It was Snoop. It was Snoop on that play. That's right. I believe it was against the Titans, wasn't it? Oh, that was brutal. Yeah.
31:56
Yes, against the Titans, where that weird onside kick thing happened. Yeah. Yeah.
32:01
Uh, s- I didn't think we were gonna only have 90 seconds left, but give me your, your favorite college football play this week and maybe an Ohio State-Texas thought. So a couple of them have moved.
32:07
Uh, I will say this, uh, this has been my hot-ish take. I think Texas is favored by the time we get to kickoff on Saturday. Wow. I don't think by much. I mean, we're still, like some spots are like one and a half now.
32:17
It'll just flip. So, yeah, I think it'll just flip to maybe Texas minus one. Yeah. So go out and grab that now. I bet a couple of unders. You'll have to give me the updated, uh, numbers if you have it in front of you.
32:24
Uh, I bet the Oregon-Cal, uh, game, or excuse me, Oregon State-Cal game under the total of 51. I think we're floating around 50 now, fift- 49 and a half.
32:33
Uh, some reports out there that Oregon State's best wide receiver, out, not gonna play. I think it's gonna be kind of a rock 'em, sock 'em, run the ball, time of possession sort of deal.
32:41
Uh, same thing with Fresno State and Georgia Southern. I bet that under 52, and I think that's still floating around out there. I haven't checked for a couple of days.
32:48
Uh, those two, and then took, um, six and a half with South Florida.
32:51
You could've gotten the best of the number m- you know, way back in May and all that kind of stuff, but, uh, I'm not a believer in Boise State in terms of the big picture.
32:59
They still should probably run away with the Mountain West after what we just saw over the weekend, but I, I wanna test the theory that they're not as good from a ratings standpoint that the market believes them to be.
33:07
Dr. Bob was on yesterday. He has Texas three points better than the next best team. Yeah. What do you think about that? Uh, I think that makes sense if Arch Manning is what we expect him to be. If he is, yeah.
33:16
That, that, that's the big if. Yeah. But it seems that he is going to be just that. So if that hits, I think it makes all the sense in the world.
33:22
Jonathan Von Tobel, co-host with Stormy Bonta Tony, Money Moves, 2:00 PM Eastern, 11:00 AM Pacific, each and every Monday through Friday right here on VSiN. Thank you, sir. Thank you. I'm trying to exude Kelly vibes.
33:33
[laughs] @meJVT on Twitter, by the way. Coming back right here on the Numbers Game at VSiN, the sports betting network.
33:39
[upbeat music] A Numbers Game on VSiN, the sports betting network. Think you're better than the experts?
33:57
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34:25
Sign up at edgeboost.bet with promo code VSiN. Enter the contest today at vsin.com/joe. We get tweets at BeattingTheBook. Always appreciate the feedback. Oh, I think the internet went out. Oh, no, it didn't.
34:37
Uh, Superjerk. There were issues this morning. Oh, yeah, I think it's, it's, it's on the fritz now. It's on the Taylor fritz. On the fritz. Uh, this is from, uh, Superjerk. Oh, Superjerk chiming in.
34:47
[laughs] He says, he said, uh, he goes, "Take it from a guy who was born in Cincinnati. They suck." [laughs] That's his take on it. Nate Green- He's always positive. He's always positive.
34:58
Nate Green, "Me realizing that a week from now I'll be listening to the Megapod getting ready to fire it on the NFL. Can't wait." Oh, [laughs] and PGHPLS has a request for Michael Montesano.
35:09
"Gas up our guy Cade, please." Ladies and gentlemen, in studio with us, uh, the original Circa Booby Prize winner. He won $100,000 for finishing with the worst record- Way to go...
35:19
in Circa Millions, but it was by design after a certain point. He didn't just land there not trying to be there. It's Michael Montesano. You can follow him on Twitter at BetsandReps.
35:28
You'll notice he's never seen a gym in his life. [laughs] How you doing, Mike? Very well, thank you very much for having me.
35:33
And that year that I won the Booby Prize, I also finished 47th in the c- and they paid out in the top 50. It wasn't a lot, but it was 47th in my oth- other entry. So you- Oh. Oh. I don't- There you go...
35:44
I don't, I forgot about that detail. It was the f- Me too... it was the old flip. Yeah. Remember? I was like, "Okay, I think I could still maybe..." After the first week or two, didn't do so well.
35:51
I said, "Well, if I flip 'em, I can still make a run, and I don't know where it's gon- or how, you know, if I'll get close to the Booby Prize." And then it started to really escalate. Yeah. And w- the, I was getting...
36:01
You know, the ones that I wanted to win, it was flipping, it was losing, and then it just all worked out at the end. I had to go 5-0, 0-5, however you look at it, to win the Booby Prize and to- And you did...
36:11
get in the top 40s, top 50. And that's what you did- Wow... the last week. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Man. Wait, so you had to run pure on both entries? You had, you had to go- I-... 5-0 both entries, basically? Yeah.
36:21
I mean, 0 and f- you go 5-0- Right, 0-5 and 0-5... and then flip it. Yeah. The 0 and 5, it came- Well, he went oppo on each. Yeah, oppo. Oh, he went oppo. Yeah. Yeah, I went oppo on all of them.
36:27
Um, before we get to football, do you wanna, do you wanna take the, uh, the bait here? Gas up our guy, Cade, please. Can you explain w- what that is to folks? Yeah, I mean, in early May, um, he was getting called up.
36:38
I've been following him, uh, you know- Oh, Cade Horton. Yeah... Cade Horton. Been following the minor leagues. And, uh, I saw a rogue 150 to 1 at w- you know, at a sports book. I jumped on it of, you know, for everyone.
36:50
I didn't, I was limited, [laughs] you know? So, uh, I wasn't able to get a huge bet on it, and I think I texted you that I, that I t- that I took him. And then I took him again at 30 to 1.
37:02
And, you know, he didn't get off to the greatest of starts, and they were really limiting his innings and his pitch count.
37:07
But since the All-Star break, he has absolutely taken off, and, um, he deserves to be in the top two or three contention for Rookie of the Year. He's the sure shot, man. It's a long way to go. I mean, he's- Yeah...
37:20
he, he can't really have too many hook, uh, too many, uh, mess-ups along the way. But, um, he's, he's doing great. Ca- Cade Horton, plus 150. Isaac Collins, plus 185. Drake Baldwin, plus 210. Yeah. Wow.
37:33
Yeah, and I, and I'm following Isaac Collins and Drake Baldwin every single day. Hoping for the worst. [laughs] Hoping for the worst. And Baldwin, the last couple days, has done okay. Yeah.
37:41
Um, but a- again, this is, this award's gonna be won in, in September. Who's gonna, who can, you know, take the lead and- What's the biggest future you've hit in the recent years? 'Cause you, 'cause Kelly- Yeah...
37:51
and I, w- we can, we can agree on this. We get more random futures texts from you than any- No... than any other human. [laughs] I, I was trying- West-... to stay quiet while he was like, "You might remember I texted."
38:01
Like, no, I do not remember, Mike. [laughs] We've got a lot of awards texts from you. I, I think I texted Gil individually on that one. So, but- But... um, the biggest one recently, I had Florida 60 to 1.
38:11
Um- March Madness. Yeah. Yep. March Madness. I had Joe Flacco Comeback Player of the Year, 50 to 1. That was the most surprising one. That was the most surprising one. Yeah.
38:20
I did have Nas Reed a couple years ago, 50 to 1. Um, last year I did really well in the baseball futures. I had Louise Heal, 22 to 1. I had Chris Sale, 20 to 1. So it's- Man...
38:32
it's, the last few years have been w- have done well. The MLB futures this year, I'm, it's, it's, uh, it's Cade Horton or it's, it's bust for all the other ones. All right.
38:40
You said, before we get to college football, you said you had an NFL season long that you wanted to share.
38:44
I do, and I was listening to your alt, uh, alt plays today, and I was praying you didn't take mine, and you didn't. I have an alt under on the New York Jets, uh- Ooh... under five and a half.
38:54
I, Circa has them at plus 135. I got them at plus 145. They won five games last year with Aaron Rodgers, and I don't think they really upgraded at the quarterback position with Justin Fields.
39:05
Their schedule, eh, is manageable. 18th, um, per my ratings. Um, but are they f- really favored in a lot of games this year? I didn't see it. No. I didn't see it.
39:16
And, uh, you know, I'm not a fan of defensive coaches coming in, and usually offense struggles the first year. I just don't see the weapons.
39:23
I mean, Garrett Wilson's great, but who's gonna, is Fields gonna get him the ball? I don't, I don't know. So I just don't see the offense that great. So I did take them alt under, under five and a half.
39:32
Is, [laughs] is Fields gonna get him the ball? That would be the question. [laughs] Yeah. We should've just taken the segment off. Could've had JVT sit here, and they could've just debated. Oh. Yeah, debated the Jets.
39:38
Points, counterpoints. Yeah, yeah, point, counterpoint. Yeah. Yeah. On the Jets. Okay, to college football. You have some serious thoughts on college football here. Yeah. Um, I have three futures. Hopefully, uh- Oh...
39:49
none of the three will end up as the runner-ups. That's right. This is our annual Michael Monosono Pick the Runner-Up segment. Yeah, it was great.
39:55
I had all thr- I, I, last year I was on your show, I had three conference futures. I had Iowa State at plus 950, uh, Lafayette plus 675, and I, I could be off by a few, and I had Miami of Ohio plus 350.
40:09
And all three get to the title game. Oh. All three were favored. Oh. Except I think it closed where Iowa State was, it was a pick them against Arizona. All three, you know, at least, and they all got destroyed.
40:20
What a brutal- Absolutely destroyed... three set up perfectly, and they- Three set up perfectly... yeah, and you're right. All, uh, maybe all, I think all three were favorites. You might, it was- All three. Oh, yeah.
40:28
Yeah... Miami of Ohio was the, was the- And they all got crushed... just crushed. Yeah. Just crushed. All right, let's, let's have another one at it. All right, let's go this year. We're gonna go to the Big 12.
40:35
I, I did a, I did a half unit on each of the, uh, and they don't play each other during the regular season, which works out nice. I've got Texas Tech. Um, I took these, a lot of these plays back in, um, July.
40:47
I checked the numbers, they're still relatively the same. Texas Tech, plus 650, but I, I, I, you know, the market seems to like Texas Tech right now. They're down a little bit. Um, might be plus 575.
40:57
Still worth the play. And I also have Baylor at seven to one. I think Circa has them at 750. Um, Texas Tech, I mean, I don't really wanna beat a dead horse. So many, um, people have talked about them already.
41:08
Number one in roster strength. I am buying into the hype of their transfer portal, um, which was number one. And in conference, uh, play, I have them, uh, on, on average of being favored by 5.4 points per game.
41:23
They do play four bottom tier teams: Oklahoma State, BYU, UCF, and West Virginia. Um, Kansas looks improved. They have them as well, but I just, I like the makeup of that team.
41:34
Baylor, uh, third in the conference in returning production. Uh, offense, super explosive. High continuity, uh, from last year b- that's back with Sawyer Robertson as the QB.
41:45
Four manageable road games, Okie State, TCU, Cincinnati, and Arizona. They do get their tough games at home, Arizona State, um, Kansas State, and Utah. So I did a spl- uh, split.
41:56
Maybe they can both play each other in the, in the, in the championship and sit back and- That way you can't get crushed... that way I can't get crushed. I would- That way I can't get crushed...
42:02
Texas Tech six to one to win the Big 12, Baylor seven to one. Yep. Man, UCF 55 to one, and they're laying 21 points tomorrow night? All right. Yeah. Right? College football, it is what it is. It is what it is.
42:14
[laughs] All right, you got one more? I, I got two more. Two more. I'll go quickly. I got, uh, go to the American Conference. I'm gonna take the favorite, Tulane.
42:21
I know a lot of, a lot are, people are down on them this year. Their quarterback situation is a little bit sketchy. Uh, they do have the transfer kid from BYU coming in. Yes.
42:30
I downgraded them three and a half points from last year's, uh, final power rating, and I still have them as the best team in the conference.
42:38
Um, they are, th- th- you know, they lost a lot in re- in production, but they They gain back. So I use like a net production rating, um, when you, when you talk about adjusted returning production.
42:47
Their schedule is decent, uh, with the exception of back-to-back road games at UTSA. But I know Dr. Bob is down a little bit on UTSA. But Chris Felica likes UT- UTSA. That's right. [laughs] And Memphis.
42:59
Um, so those are gonna be some tough road games. Um, but you know, I like them.
43:04
I have them, I have them at 7.0 conference, 7.0 conference wins per my ratings, and they did lose in the championship game last year to Army. I think they have the best coach in the conference in, in John Summerall.
43:18
He did an amazing job at Troy, and he'll, he'll mold them together and get to the, get to the champ- They are the favorite. I, I got them at 3 to 1. They are at plus 375 and plus 325 at, at, at places right now.
43:29
Yeah, plus 320 at DraftKings right now. Jake Retzlaff with a no-no at BYU. Yeah, can't do that. Can't do that. Yeah. Can't do that. All right, last one. All right, last one.
43:37
We'll go to the Sun Belt Conference, and, uh, we'll go... We're, we're gonna take James Madison to win the Sun Belt. Again, back in, in July they were, they were plus 290 to win it. I do see plus 260 out there.
43:49
Circa, uh, has plus 190, so shop around. Oh. They are five points better than the second-best team in the Sun Belt Conference, um, west, or east, excuse me. Uh, and the second-best team is Georgia Southern. I do that.
44:02
I have them six points better than the best team in the south, in the Sun Belt Conference west, south Alabama. I have them on average, uh, favored by 10 points per game in conference play.
44:13
Number one in roster strength, number... I- in the, in the conference. They have the best coach in the conference, uh, Bob Chesney, who did wonders at, at, uh, at, um, Holy Cross.
44:23
And don't forget, they did beat North Carolina in North Carolina last year, 70 to 50. So we're gonna take James Madison to win the Sun Belt.
44:31
James Madison to win the Sun Belt, Tulane to win the American, and Texas Tech and Baylor splitting bets to win the Big 12. Michael Montesano, Bets and Reps on Twitter. Thank you, buddy. Thank you. Appreciate it.
44:41
Thank y'all. We'll recap all the bets next. [upbeat music]
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A Numbers Game | September 17, 2026 | Hour 1
Sep 17, 2026
Best of A Numbers Game | September 16, 2026
Sep 16, 2026
A Numbers Game | September 16, 2026 | Hour 3
Sep 16, 2026
A Numbers Game | September 16, 2026 | Hour 2
Sep 16, 2026
A Numbers Game | September 16, 2026 | Hour 1
Sep 16, 2026
Best of A Numbers Game | September 15, 2026
Sep 15, 2026
A Numbers Game | September 15, 2026 | Hour 3
Sep 15, 2026
A Numbers Game | September 15, 2026 | Hour 2
Sep 15, 2026
A Numbers Game | September 15, 2026 | Hour 1
Sep 15, 2026
Best of A Numbers Game | September 11, 2026
Sep 11, 2026
